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Adelaide
B&B On our way to the
2002 Total Eclipse we stopped in Adelaide Hills region
for a few days to explore the wines and vineyards of that region.
A stop at a local tourist office led us to the lucky discovery of the Steve and Many Adcock's
Adelaide Hills Country Cottages,
[***] [$$], which turned out to be one of the best B&Bs we have experienced
anywhere.
There are five "Mediterranean style villa" units,
each isolated in its own private and scenic part of a large estate. Some
units are large enough for family/groups. Our
favorite is "The Nest" which has a spa tub with a picture
window looking out on the farm (see photo). The breakfast goodies are
setup and left at your cottage. You prepare on your own.
Activities in the area
include: picnics (on the estate), walking on
country roads adjacent to the estate, and wineries touring & tasting. Some wineries are
within 10 minutes drive. Many more can be reached in 30 minutes to an
hour. Adelaide is about 30 minutes by Highway 1.
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Above: Ron roughing it in The Nest at the
Adelaide Hills Country Cottages.
Nearby Vineyard
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Remlap Wool Jacket
You can purchase
a nice lambs wool jacket at
Remlap Manufacturing in tiny Palmer
(not on the map, so ask locals for directions). The drive from the
Adelaide Hills towards Palmer also takes you in the direction of another
lovely wine growing valley.
Uraidla Hotel
Almost every "hotel" we encountered had
decent food. One that we especially recommend: The Uraidla Hotel
[** $$], on Greenhill Road, Uraidla, in the Adelaide Hills. Roger
and Bruna Zeidan had just taken over the business a few months before we visited
in 2002 - and had already won an American Express Restaurant Award.
Cozy, friendly, and good food.
There
are "Hotels" everywhere
The "Hotel" you find in every small town in South
Australia is actually the town pub, restaurant, & casinos. (In some cases it's
also the local liquor shop.) Very few are actual hotels.
They are good places for drink, cheap and substantial meals, and people
watching. Schnitzel is served in virtually all establishments.
There is chicken, pork, beef, and veal schnitzels, depending on the place and
day of the week. It seems that schnitzels is even more popular in S.
Australia than Vienna! The drinking/dining areas in the "Hotels"
are usually divided into two or three distinct, walled off areas. The
"front room" is for the rough and tough men-folk drinkers (now women also
mingle in this crowd). The "back room" is family dining.
Flinders Ranges National Park
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a wonderful place for 3 or 4 day hikes and some exposure to Aboriginal mythical
history and cave art.
The Wilpena Pound Resort [**] has terrific,
modern accommodations [**, $$]. We recommend the Heysen cabins.
The chow at the resort bar-bistro is also pretty good and very friendly and reasonably priced [$].
For joggers, here is the most memorable run: leave the Wilpena
resort area by way of Pound Gap; after a couple of kilometers, a bit past
the Old Homestead, take the right branch onto the Heysen trail [**]
cutting through the Pound valley floor; continue as far as you care before
turning around. Troops of kangaroos will join you in this portion of the
run. For a very long hike through a great variety of terrain: start
at Wilpena Chalet / Park headquarters, take the Pound Gap path to the Old
Homestead. A bit past the Homestead turn right and NW on to the trail
toward Cooinda Camp, than on to Tanderra Saddle. (But we made the mistake
of taking a side trip to Malloga Falls, which was not very interesting, and made
the hike way way too long.) At Tanderaa Saddle the trail takes a plunge
down a cliff before continuing on the flats back to park headquarters. The
cliff is very difficult and by the time we reached bottom we could think of
nothing but a cold beer at the bar - bistro back at the camp. Note: a good
map and GPS are strongly advised for hiking in this area. At one
point on this hike we lost the trail. Without GPS we may not have found
our way back... and would not be writing this stuff!
After Flinders Ranges we ended up in
Lyndhurst, S. Australia
The town is literally at the end of the road,
about 500 km north of Adelaide. The paved road ends here and turns into
the Outback track. No fuel for the next 500 km (see photo above).
Lyndhurst will probably
not be your primary travel destination, but if you happen to pass through ask
the locals about the
2002
Total Eclipse
of the sun. The eclipse day was their day in history.
The perfect itinerary
For one week in S.
Australia
Days 1-3: Stay at Adelaide Hills
Country Cottages. Tour nearby wine country to sample some of the
best wines of Australia. Have at least one of your dinners at The Uraidla
Hotel (see below) on Greenhill Road, Uraidla.
Days 4-7: Drive/fly to Wilpena Pound
Resort in Flinders Ranges. Experience
outback, bush hiking, Aboriginal history, and wildlife (kangaroos!).
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The "Chloe"
nude
is one of
Australia's prized possessions. It is in
the upstairs lounge of Melbourne's
Young & Jackson
[*]. If you happen to be passing through Melbourne call ahead for
schedule of lectures on history and significance of the Chloe portrait ("
the only nude woman ever seen by many lads sent off to fight in WWII.")
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Remlap
Manufacturing in Palmer, S. Australia (not far from Adelaide Hills)
makes "the warm oilskin" jackets with lambs wool linings. Sold off their rack or
made custom fit in one day. Above: Marlene with her new coat and Ramplap
owner Bob Borchardt.
A complete Snitzel (sic) dinner for $8.99 AUS
(6 bucks US).
Sign at Lyndurst. Next fuel stop, Innamincka,
500 km. Lyndhurst hosted eclipse chasers in 2002.
Otherwise it is pretty quite here.
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